Into Hell And Back
by Genox
Summary: Reach Will Fall. Humanity shall risk everything to protect it. The Covenant will do anything to destroy it. And a squad of ODSTs will try to survive against overwhelming odds.


**Author's Note:This Fan-fic takes place during the Fall of Reach. I'm doing this story to celebrate the release of Halo : Reach. Enjoy!**

**I do not own Halo or any of its characters or locations.**

**Chapter 1: Revielle**

_They were coming._

_The Covenant had found Reach, and they were coming. They would kill every single man,woman and child on the planet. And then it was only a matter of time before the same thing happened to Earth, and Mars, and every other populated planet humanity still had left._

_And they had to stop that._

_Hubbard ran, breathing heavily. They were coming. He glanced back, saw the Elites behind him. And more importantly, the Banshee flying overhead. He smelled flesh burning. _His_ flesh. _

_Hubbard jumped over the road block, ducking into a quick roll as he landed. He could taste the blood in his helmet. He ran towards the ONI office building. He was almost there! _

_The Banshee shot him in the leg, causing him to roll over and hit the ground. His leg cracked as the Banshee hit the occupied Warthog to his left, nearly crushing him as it rolled past. _

_Hubbard glanced at his HUD. He only had seven shots left in his M6B magnum. He had to make them count._

_The Elites were coming. He had to move, but his leg wouldn't respond. He crawled on the ground, his training kicking in. He kept crawling, the burning asphalt and thick dust clouding his vision. The office building was only a few meters away!_

_Hubbard felt a sharp pain go through his shoulder. An energy sword! The Elite put it in slowly, making sure that he would suffer as much as possible. The alien turned Hubbard over and pulled out quickly. Unable to hold it in any longer, the marine screamed. He was as good as dead, he knew that for sure. But he had to take the bastard who had killed him down. He pulled out his pistol. The elite roared and plunged his sword into the marine's chest, but it was too late. Hubbard had already fired all seven shots into the Elite. The Elite fell backwards, dead from the powerful magnum shots. The marine and the elite lay side by side, enemies till the end, yet both equal in death._

_Hubbard looked up into the sky, his last thoughts of his mother's warm face. He smiled as he closed his eyes for the last time, and his soul drifted into the inky blackness of the unknown. _

_He could finally rest._

Hubbard's eyes shot open. His thaw cycle was nearly complete.

The ODST looked around his Cryo-pod. _I'm in these sorts of things way too often, _He thought.

He really wasn't supposed to dream in Cryo. Nobody did. Except for him. His doctors had told him that had to be something psychological, not physical. His psychiatrists had told him the exact opposite. His squadmates had told him that it was his imagination. _Funny. I barely have an imagination._

Hubbard had been having the same dream for the past seven weeks. _When I told the others, they got really uncomfortable. Probably 'cause it isn't too far from the truth, _the ODST thought.

His pod cycle was done. Hubbard opened his pod and took a deep breath. He regretted it almost instantly. The inhalant they had given in the pod tasted like piss. He choked on it for a moment, then violently regurgitated the yellow stuff onto the floor.

He crawled out of the pod, and slipped on the liquid he had regurgitated. "Real smooth, Hubbard," he said to himself.

Hubbard got up and looked around. He was the first one awake. _Good. That means I'll have time to eat lunch. Or dinner. Or breakfeast. Hell, I can't even tell what time it is on this tub_, he thought.

Hubbard slipped on some clothes. He looked in the mirror and shivered. His eyes were gaunt, and he had a scar running from just below his left eye down to the bottom of his right cheek. His clean shaven face looked extremely pale from so many battles fought in a row. He had been fighting so long that he couldn't even recognize his face. He tried to remember the last time he had been home. _Two years, _he remembered. _But they had glassed Poseidon II, hadn't they...those bastards. _

The ODST went around, activating each pod. They would take an hour to spin up and thaw each person out. The procedures for Cryo were simple. The shipboard AI would choose a random pod to thaw first, and then that person would go around and activate the rest of the pods. It was Hubbard's turn this time.

_Lucky me. _

Hubbard walked out of Cryo B and kept walking. He was completely alone, except for the sounds of the ship humming, and the shipboard AI. He listened to his steps on the cold metal floor for a while, and then he walked over to the viewing window on the bridge. What he saw concerned him.

They had just jumped out of Slipspace, and whenever they did that, it meant combat. But in front of him was Reach. And, if his eyes were right, the covenant had to be invading. His blood ran cold.

_Could my dreams be reality?_

Hubbard shivered. For some reason, he knew this was going to be a long battle.


End file.
